so ive been a Tech for about two years now and mostly just been doing local stuff on 2m and 70cm, some APRS and a little bit of DMR but honestly ive been wanting to get on HF for a while and everyone keeps telling me to just go ahead and take the General exam. my question is i guess how difficult is it compared to the Tech test because i remember that one being not too bad but some of the stuff i've seen in the General pool looks pretty intimidating, like the electrical theory sections and some of the propagation stuff.

i dont really have a background in electronics or anything like that, im basically self taught on everything ham related. been using HamStudy and just kind of grinding through questions but some of them i genuinely dont understand why the answer is what it is, like im just memorizing at that point. is that good enough to pass or do i need to actually understand the concepts? and once i do pass, what does actually getting on HF look like in terms of equipment, like do i need a completely different radio or can i use something i maybe already have

honestly the General pool isnt that much harder than Tech if you put a few weeks into it. the electrical theory stuff looks scarier than it is, most of it is just ohms law variations and a couple formulas you can memorize without really knowing what theyre doing. i passed mine after about 3 weeks of doing maybe 20-30 questions a day on HamStudy and felt pretty comfortable going in.

the propagation questions are actually kind of interesting once you start reading a little about how the ionosphere works, like it starts making sense why 20m is good during the day and 40m opens up at night and then the questions click instead of feeling random. i'd say spend some extra time on the band plan stuff too because knowing which parts of each band Generals can use versus Extra is tested pretty specifically and its easy to mix up.

as for HF gear, yeah you're probably looking at a new radio unless you have something that already covers HF. a used Icom 7300 is the answer most people give and its honestly hard to argue with, but there's cheaper ways in if you want to experiment first before dropping that kind of money.

i was in basically the exact same spot like six months ago, Tech for a couple years just doing local repeater stuff and then finally buckled down for General. just memorizing is fine, that's pretty much what everyone does for at least part of it. you'll pick up the actual understanding later when you're on the air and things start making sense from experience.

passed on my first try and the test felt easier than i expected. get your ticket and get on 40m, thats where i'd start, tons of activity and you can usually hear something no matter the time of day